Axus lime roller sleeves and Axus
In an article Mini rollers that rock, the Axus lime sleeves were one of several reliable products in the quiver of Martin Guest. They engender superlatives in terms of finish and paint pick up. There has been a lot of contrasting opinion written about the Axus lime sleeves, though.
About Axus Decor, who listen to their customers!
Axus Decor are a well established company and have been running a decorators merchant in North West London since 1974. Their success has been built by listening to opinions of the professionals about various products, and getting a new range into the trade’s hands, and listening again.
Providing decorators with what they want is no easy task! Axus have had a few resounding successes and are continually testing for a few more.
Cutting edge
Their best known line is Olfa knives which are a favourite on Traditional Painter. Olfa are TP recommended products and they have a landing page where you can read about their latest products. (There is a new sharper / stay sharper blade being tested April 2015.)
The Axus wallpapering shears are well respected and they stay sharp to the last cut!
Axus Painters trousers
If you want painters to get tetchy, ask them to talk about their workwear. The Axus painters trousers cut a line straight through a lot of talk, coming in at a good price, a good cut, and they have even adapted the pockets after feedback. https://traditionalpainter.com/dont-buy-pair-axus-painters-trousers-buy-2-pairs
And the Axus lime sleeves…
There is always an opinion about the colour, the flock, the flawless and reliable application of oil and water based paint… on the other side, some can never get a fluff free finish despite pre-cleaning, washing drying and wiping with masking tape.
From the feedback on the site and forum, I see no pattern beyond, it seems to be down to batches and quality control whether the sleeve performs or not.
There are far too many positive reviews to just dismiss them out of hand, but after a bad experience defluffing your woodwork, and paying out £11 a box, you can understand professionals being annoyed at them not performing reliably.
To cover yourself, I would always test a new sleeve out in paint on a piece of lining paper, just in case. And if they shed, nothing spoilt and they can be returned. That is fair. Or if you are happy to forego the flock benefits (lots of paint capacity and lovely lay off) , a high density foam sleeve will never shed, but will be harder work – like rolling is hard work!!
How have you found the lime sleeves? Have you tried any other Axus kit?
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3 comments to “Axus lime roller sleeves and Axus”
This is one of the most read articles on roller sleeves on TP, yes it gets that exciting. What paints have you successfully used these sleeves in?
hi, client wants little green paint used on her new oak front door, she prefers acrylic, whats best primer undercoat for this application, i dont want any tannin bleed coming through, door sits inside porch out of weather. thanks, regards, edd. ps have corona kingston, cody,knight, which do you rate best for these coatings?
Hi Eddie
I am sure many painters will tell you they never had a problem, but I don’t think I would take the chance with acrylic paint on new oak. There is a risk of acrylic topcoats drawing the tannin through the best primer.
Sadolin Superdec is a self priming hybrid gloss – that too requires stain blocker over resinous surfaces.
Sikkens are never very clear on how to treat oak for opaque coatings, beyond cleaning down with an oily rag. They are not even confident in shellac knotting sealing knots!
Johnstones Stormshield requires the Woodworks primer on new wood, but is not suitable for hardwood
I would apply a couple of coats of quick drying oil based Coverstain for starters, with a couple of oil based topcoats (Miranol or Sikkens XD or AZ).
If it’s a front door, why not go for the number 10 finish with a couple of skims of oil based Gras a laquer over the Coverstain first.
If it is really protected, so not truly an outside door, 2 coats of Pegaprim or BIN and two topcoats in waterbased/ hybrid gloss would be my second option, but still with reservations. You have to be wary of shellac primer outdoors, it is brittle. And even the most durable waterborne topcoats, there is still the danger of drawing tannin through even those very best of stain blockers.
It just keeps coming back to a stain blocker plus oil topcoat if you want a sold gloss painted finish.